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I thought maybe this wasn't Ashes Divide. It's too punky, too guttural, too, well, tribal.

Sure enough, the band performing is experimental techno-punk percussionists Street Drum Corps, which was originally supposed to open the Revolution Stage on this tour. Then, it got moved up to close that side stage just before the tour started a few weeks ago.

And now, it's breaking in the Main Stage. Pretty darned commendably and forcefully, I might add ... but I cant help but think "Punk Stomp" when I see these guys. Meh ...

Atreyu finished on the parking lot-simmered Revolution Stage at 5:05 p.m. Ten minutes later, a rush of fans stormed the lawn on its south side.

Whether they were allowed to do so is unknown. But it's not exactly a controlled way to begin letting patrons take their places, even on the general-admission lawn.

Two minutes later, the queue for the reserved seats started moving S-L-O-W-L-Y, since tix had to be checked, one by one. One line, two or thee ticket ushers, at least a couple of thousand people.

Seven or eight minutes later, Ashes Divide Street Drum Corps (!) starts its set more than 20 minutes EARLY.

Kind of nuts, people. Kind of nuts ... well, at least the line's orderly. Lots of frowns around, though.

OK, I have to give Atreyu proper props. Though Alex Varkatzas is struggling with range and projection, both he and his bandmates' energy is highly commendable

Of the bands that have emerged out of Southern California's hard-core and screamo scene, Atreyu is, in my estimation, the most charismatic and talented. Avenged Sevenfold may have more chops, style and swagger, but Atreyu majorly trumps it in honesty, effort and positivity. No, it may not last quite as long as A7X, but it's still worthy of memory.

Keep that copy of Lead Sails Paper Anchor for a few years, kids. In, say, 2013, listen to it before A7X's recent self-titled release. Betcha think the former's better. Because it is.

I arrived at the Dallas stop of Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution Tour about 45 minutes ago to find some telling things.

First off, attendance is paltry for the afternoon portion, which started at 1 p.m. For a concert of this size, four grand (that's my estimate) is troubling - and maybe half that are taking in California metal band Atreyu's poor set. Alex Varkatzas appears to have lost most of his voice; Lucky for him, he's being good natured about it on stage -- and that this is the tour's second-to-last stop.

The other two grand are waiting for the ampitheater to open. That's right: it's been closed for show prep for the main stage the entire 95-degree-and-humid-as-heck afternoon. Not cool. Literally.

Oh, and to those folks who were complaining about the $4.50 price of bottled water at Ozzfest a couple of weeks ago? It's a relative bargain here: just $4 (and that's Superpages.com Center's standard price)!

Just now, Jesus Christ Pose(d). Wow.

Former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell blew the roof off of Superpages.com Center with a set that was far and waaay away better than any of his recent turns in Dallas.

But be warned: his upcoming new CD, Scream, is not what most will expect from him. (Hint: it was co-written and produced by none other than hip hop superproducer Timbaland).

But even the two new synth-assisted (!!!) cuts that Mr. Cornell performed tonight - "Watch Out" and "Scream" - had a fire about them that's been missing from his shows for years. Plus, the duet he did on "Hunger Strike" with Linkin Park's Chester Bennington was darned cool. Interesting note: Mr. Bennington handled Mr. Cornell's screams on the chorus of the Temple of the Dog track, while Mr. Cornell sang the lower registers originally done by Eddie Vedder.

Mr. Cornell looked like he's been reborn at age 44. More about that later, so stay tuned ...

Attendance here has now become respectable; I'd say that about 11 to 12,000 are present. That's mean that about seven grand or so were either smart or otherwise occupied and stayed away until the storms that are in the area cooled things off a bit. No rain here yet, but it's been threatening.

You can always tell how diverse a crowd is by the variety of band shirts that are being worn - not for the acts playing the actual concert, but for others. The variety here - from Snoop Dogg to Dropkick Murphys and Dimmu Borgir to Michael Jackson - is naturally telling.

I've never warmed to this act much. It's too faux-British, too contrived, too, well ... I'll put it this way: it's retro-pop just feels overblown.

However, I have to say that live, the band appears more chummy and organic. It looks like it's having fun, and the delivery of its Oasis-by-way-of-Duran Duran power pop is calming. Boy, these guys spout off one singalong chorus after another singalong chorus ... and then another ... and another ....

What puzzles me is why it's on this tour. This is a mainstream rock tour, not a hipster-hyped next-big-thing blowout. Then again, the Bravery HAVE had a top 10 Modern Rock hit. Is the paradigm changing? Yes, but it's not ruled by Brittania. Yet (I know that I'll rue that day).

It's pretty easy to describe this band's music: a more mature and atmospheric 30 Seconds to Mars.

And since that Jared Leto-led act's gonna be a while releasing a follow-up to A Beautiful Lie (y'all've heard about Virgin's asenine $30 million lawsuit against the band for failure to deliver a new record on time, I hope), it's perfectly acceptable to migrate your 30STM fan-dom to this act.

Granted, Billy Howerdel doesn't have Mr. Leto's celebrity rep, nor his looks, nor his charisma. But the reserved and introspective Mr. Howerdel wasn't exactly a natural match to be Tool's guitar tech, much less the musical brains behind A Perfect Circle, either.

That said, there's a natural relationship between APC and Ashes musically. This is more obvious and less presumptious stuff ... and it's being performed with precision and nobility.